Beth hurried down the main street in town, eager to make it home for dinner with her father. They had planned on decorating the Christmas tree that night. She had parked her car around the corner from the main street, but enjoyed the walk through town.

She had spent the day at her shop, cleaning it and organizing where she would set things up. She had hired a contractor to help her build shelves and fix the countertop, and had been talking with him all afternoon about designing blueprints to suit their plans. She smiled when she thought of him. She had only just met T-Dog, but already trusted his skill and judgement and couldn't wait to get started rebuilding the little shop. She had only rented the shop a little more than a month ago, but it already felt like home.

It had also been about a month since she had gotten back in touch with Rosita, and their friendship was back to being as strong as ever. They had met for coffee several times, often with Sasha or Karen joining them, and had had several more movie nights at the farm. Rosita had even managed to drag Beth out for a drink at Cell Block C once or twice. Every time she was there, she kept her eyes out for Daryl, wondering if she would bump into him. But she never did. She felt a twinge of pain when she thought of Daryl. She knew the number for his garage and often thought about calling him, but she always chickened out at the last moment. She had no idea what to say to him, or if he would even want to hear from her after all this time.

She quickened her pace when she noticed the sky growing darker. Night was falling, and the clouds were a heavy dark grey. Beth wondered if it would snow, though it rarely did in Georgia. Christmas was just around the corner, and despite the lack of snow, all the storefronts were decorated with lights and trees. She wondered if she should set up a small Christmas display in the window of her shop. They weren't open yet, but it might be good advertising.

She was so lost in thought, she didn't even realize where she was walking until she bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry!" Beth said quickly, and smiled when she saw who she had run into. "Hey guys, how are you?"

Zach and Amy stood in front of her, and Beth was surprised, but pleased, to see them holding hands. Clearly a lot had changed since she had last seen them.

"Hi Beth!" Amy said cheerfully. "Merry Christmas!"

"It's not Christmas yet, babe," Zach said, rolling his eyes playfully.

"A week until Christmas basically is Christmas," Amy shot back, but she was grinning even as she teased him. "Stop being such a Grinch."

Beth wanted to laugh, listening to them bicker like always, but watching them tease each other while holding hands made something ache in her chest. The easy intimacy that she had never really known had never been so obvious to her.

Zach reached out to tug a strand of Amy's long blonde hair from under her fluffy blue knit cap, making her swat his hand away and laugh. Beth cleared her throat.

"How's the flower shop going?" Amy asked, turning her attention back to Beth. "I walk past it all the time, and it looks so cute already!"

"It's going well!" Beth said happily. "I'm looking forward to opening in a few months. How is the garage doing?"

She had just meant to be polite, to ask about their work after they had asked about hers, but the veiled mention of Daryl was noticeable to everyone. Amy and Zach exchanged a quick look, and Beth worked hard not to blush.

"It's fine," Amy said, more gently than she had spoken before. "Busy as ever."

Beth nodded, and no one spoke for a moment.

"Daryl… Daryl is running the business well," Amy said carefully, while clearly ignoring the warning looks Zach was giving her. "He's always busy. But I think… I think sometimes he works so hard because he really wants something… else."

"Oh," Beth said quietly. She didn't really know how to respond to that. She could feel a clutch in her stomach, and burrowed deeper into her thick grey scarf.

It was quiet again, until Zach said gently, "We all really hope you're doing well, Beth. Everyone just hopes you're happy."

Beth felt tears prick her eyes and burn her throat.

"Well, I better get home!" Beth said, pushing down her tears and summoning a cheerful smile. "It's getting late!"

Zach and Amy smiled kindly at her, and Amy gave her a hug when she said goodbye. Beth watched them go, watched as Zach put his arm around Amy and pulled her closer and how Amy looked up at him with so much love in her eyes. Beth could feel that burning feeling in her throat again, and hurried away.

Beth was lost in thought for the rest of the evening.

She couldn't get it out of her mind, Zach's arm so casually around Amy, their worry and well-wishes, the pointed mention of Daryl. It was always Daryl.

After her latest deep sigh, Hershel finally asked her what was wrong.

"You alright, doodlebug?" He asked kindly. "You usually love decorating the tree."

Beth did smile a bit at that. Her father was wearing a Santa Claus hat (completing his already Santa Claus look along with his usual fluffy white beard) and sitting in the armchair closest to the fireplace, where they usually put the Christmas tree, in the middle of a pile of ornaments and garlands.

"Just tired, Daddy," Beth said with a quiet smile.

Hershel smiled knowingly and reached into a box of ornaments to pull out the next one to go on the tree. Beth noticed it was one of Josephine's ornaments. It said "Baby's First Christmas". Beth couldn't remember if it was for her or Maggie.

"I wonder what Daryl is doing for Christmas," Hershel said mildly.

Beth felt a swoop in the pit of her stomach. "Why would you say that?"

Hershel looked at her in the calmly knowing way of his and said, "It just crossed my mind."

And now it had crossed Beth's.

What was Daryl doing for Christmas? He must have celebrated every Christmas for the past few years here with her and her family. Would he be alone this year?

She bit her lip and frowned. Hershel smiled as if he knew the worries running through her mind, but said nothing.

They said nothing more about Daryl for the rest of the night, though when the tree was finally fully decorated in the big front window of the farmhouse, Beth couldn't help but secretly wish Daryl was there to see it.

A few days later, that Saturday, Beth was going through the pantry and realized that they were out of crackers. A completely essential food item that they could not live without. She had to go to the store immediately, that Saturday afternoon.

She could acknowledge the fact that Saturday afternoons were always when she and Daryl had done their grocery shopping before, but that was completely unrelated to her grocery shopping today. She needed crackers now and could not put it off until tomorrow.

Beth held on to her single-minded determination all the way to the grocery store. It was an unusually grey and blustery day, and the kind of cold that went all the way through you. The roads were busy with people doing their weekend errands on that last Saturday before Christmas. The grocery store parking lot was nearly full, and Beth pointedly did not check if Daryl's truck was there.

Beth nearly plowed her way through the other shoppers to get to the aisle with the crackers. The display was quite large, with more of a selection than she remembered. She would have to take her time here, and who knows who might pass by in that time.

She was trying to figure out the difference between the '12 Grain' and 'Whole Grain' crackers when she finally spotted him. He was standing barely ten feet from her, right next to the shelf of children's granola bars.

"Beth," he said, seeming surprised to see her. His eyes were wide and his lips slightly parted; he seemed surprised, but also a bit nervous. He seemed almost as hesitant as she felt.

"Hey, Daryl," she said with a casualness she did not feel. "How are you?"

"Fine," he muttered, still seeming a bit lost for words. "Funny running into you here."

She couldn't tell if he meant that, or if he knew that their meeting at the grocery store on a Saturday afternoon was not quite as coincidental as she would like to pretend.

"Yes, such a coincidence," Beth said brightly. "But you know small towns…"

"Mm-hmm," Daryl murmured, still looking at her with those piercing blue eyes.

Neither spoke for a moment. Beth fought not to fidget under that intense gaze. Daryl's eyes had always made her feel like he could see right through her, that he truly saw and understood her. He looked at her like no one else ever did.

He hadn't changed much since she saw him last at Maggie's wedding. His hair was still slightly in need of a trim, though it suited him, and he was still wearing the angel wing vest, this time over a black denim jacket and green plaid shirt. Her heart twanged a bit when she saw that he wasn't wearing gloves, that his hands looked slightly raw and red from the cold December wind.

Ask him out for coffee, she told herself, just do it, just ask him.

"Daryl, I-"

"Saw your shop in town," Daryl said, at the same time as her. "S'nice."

"Oh," Beth said, thrown a bit. "Yes. T-Dog is helping me with the renovations."

Daryl nodded. "T's a good guy, he'll set you up alright."

She could suddenly feel the tears building behind her eyes. She didn't know what to say to him, didn't know how to bridge this huge gap between them. She had done this, she scolded herself, she had caused this pain and awkwardness. She had missed her chance, she thought suddenly, she had missed her chance with him. She blinked quickly, flashing away the rising tears.

If Daryl noticed her sudden emotion, he didn't comment on it.

"Almost Christmas," he muttered, gesturing vaguely at the cartoon Santa on the box of granola bars next to him.

Beth's shoulders slumped at Daryl's valiant attempt to carry the conversation. He could clearly see how awkward and uncomfortable she was making things, and didn't blame him for wincing a bit after he spoke.

"Are – are you doing anything for Christmas?" she asked, and the sudden thought was with her, that if Daryl wasn't doing anything for Christmas, if he had no other plans, than maybe she could ask him-

"Yeah," he said. "Seeing Merle in the morning and then dinner with Rick and Lori and the kids."

"That sounds nice," she said weakly.

"Mm-hmm," he murmured.

Again, neither spoke.

In some twisted karmic joke, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" was playing on the radio. Beth struggled to find something to say, find some way to make him stay a bit longer in that grocery store aisle with her, but there was nothing.

"I should go," she said quietly.

He nodded, and as she turned to go, he said quietly but warmly, "Merry Christmas, Beth."

"Merry Christmas, Daryl," Beth said in a near-whisper without looking at him, knowing that if she did, if she met his sharp, bright eyes, that she would fall to pieces.

It was only when she got home, her heart still racing in her chest, that she realized that she never actually bought the crackers that had brought her to the store in the first place.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter I'm also very excited about, it's going to be from Daryl's point of view. As always, thank you so much for every review, favourite, and follow!